•The Note• {Travis x Sal}

10

Sal POV:

Sal grabbed a few blankets and quilts, tossing them onto the floor in a messy pattern and laying down on top of them.

"Are you not going to sleep on your bed?" Travis asked, still sitting on the bed. Sal had let him borrow one of his dad's shirts—a black button up. It made him look fancy, or like a waitress at some whitewashed Italian restaurant.

"Nah, you can take the bed."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"..Alright." Travis mumbled and laid on his back awkwardly, immediately hushing into a forced silence.

"We can still talk, y'know." Sal mumbled, silently and efficiently unclipping his masks buckles and popping his glass eye out. "Uhm..okay. What're your plans for tomorrow?" Travis asked, crossing his arms over his chest, fidgeting with his thumbs."I dunno, actually. Probably just hang out with you and play hooky." Sal said casually, though Travis felt his heart race after each word.

"I've never played hooky before, won't we get in trouble?" Sal thought for a moment, he's only missed 3 days; and he's sure Travis hasn't missed one if not any at all. "Nah, we'll be fine."

Travis POV:

Travis nodded, and stared at the ceiling. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep like this." He turned his head to face Sal, who was facing the wall—without his prosthetic on.

He stared at the boy for a moment, noticing how his hair fell down his shoulders and curled towards the pillow. There was a slight crimp where he had worn the pigtails—the rubber bands now cased around his wrist.

He felt his heart flutter for a moment, the thought of seeing him without his prosthetic warmed his face. Travis knew he'd never get to, of course; but it was a nice thought.

"Do you want me to turn on a movie? Or I think I have some melatonin gummies in the cabinets." Sal suggested sitting up, still facing away.

"Would a horror movie bother you?" Travis asked, looking away as Sal begun to stand up. "Not at all." He walked over to his tv stand and flipped through a few vhs tapes, eventually landing on "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Sal walked out of the room for a moment, and knocked on the door before walking back in. Travis covered his eyes and faced away, mostly out of respect of Sal's privacy.

A clink was heard and a few ruffling sounds, presumably him sitting back down on the makeshift pallet. "Can I open my eyes now?"
Travis asked, his hands lightly pressed against his face due to the black eye.

He had mostly forgotten about his injuries, already in the routine of pushing through the pain. "Yeah, you're good." Sal said, watching the tv intently. His hair covered both sides of his face, and from where Travis was laying down—it was impossible to see anything besides his hair.

Travis looked over to the dresser where he assumed Sal placed the item, only to discover it was the previously mentioned bottle of melatonin.

'He's so thoughtful—no wonder I've fallen so hard. Ugh, that's gay to think.' Travis thought as he directed his attention towards the tv, the movie starting.

(Time skip 😘)

The movie ended, and Sal was already asleep, most of the blanket covering him. It went up to his shoulders, and curled around him. He looked comfortable, and peaceful.

He hoped he could fall asleep like that, or just be that calm. Travis looked up at the melatonin jar, and stood up to grab it. He made sure to be quiet, snagging the jar and twisting open the lid. He poured two of the crescent moon gummies and turned the bottle to read the amount. 250 mg—it read, and he shrugged and took both.

It had a bitter blackberry taste, Travis puckering his lips at the texture. He swallowed it anyhow, and closed the jar.

He swarmed himself with the blanket once more and stared at the ceiling, closing his eyes and waiting for the medicine to kick it.

Travis shivered, waking up in his house—the cold chill from the atmosphere waking him up roughly. He glanced towards the spiral of crosses that hung on the walls, all different prints and designs on cheap wood.

He then glanced at the couch he had awoke upon, a deep orange leather. He sighed, relaxing into the couch.

"Travis, what are you doing?" Travis opened his eyes to see his father towering above him, parallel to the couch.

"Sorry, sir—" Travis began, sitting up. "You don't have to be so fancy, Travis—you're my son after all." Travis paused for a moment, caught off guard.

"Just call me dad, okay?" He saw the smile on Kenneth's face—so genuine, excited almost. "Your friend Sally brought you over, you were pretty woozy from the sleep meds." He leaned over to ruffle Travis' hair.

"Glad your home, kiddo." He leaned back and stared at Travis some more, the smile on his face growing. It delighted Travis, to see his father so..happy? It confused him too, though. Why is he acting like this?

"Here, give me a hug. I've missed you." Kenneth said, beginning to hold his arms out. Travis complied, standing up and hesitantly slinking his arms around his father.

Kenneth hugged back immediately, of course; swarming him in a old fashioned bear-hug. "Dad—I..I can't breathe-" Travis choked out, patting his fathers back in an attempt to get him to pull away.

Though, panic only began to settle in as Kenneth squeezed harder—Travis letting out gasps for air, squirming under his fathers pressure.

His vision began to go blurry, and fade in from corners as he pulled against his fathers sweatshirt in desperation to breathe.

And at the last seconds of this horrid moment, he felt his spine snap. It was sudden, and the crunch similar to snapping a twig. It all happened so quick, too quick for Travis to process.

He felt the pain shoot up his back, all the way up to his neck and all the way down to his tailbone. He let out a hoarse yelp, barely audible from the suffocation.

He felt his body shake, blinking his eyes open to see Sal's figure holding and shaking his shoulders. Travis had begun to cry from the rapid change, and the overall realization of the nightmare.

"I'm sorry—" Travis whispered as Sal wrapped his arms around him, gentle and light. "Don't be. It's okay to have nightmares." Sal rubbed gentle circles on his back, leaning back some. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Travis looked to the side for a moment in thought. "Not now—I think." Sal hummed in response and sat on the corner of the bed, silence washing over the two.

"Can you...can you lay in bed with me?" Travis asked awkwardly, now in a fully sat-up position. "Yeah of course," Sal said, barely above a whisper.

Travis scooted over closer to the wall, and Sal climbed under the blankets next to him. "I'm sorry I woke you up." Travis said, and Sal paused for a moment.

"Don't be, I used to wake my dad up all the time from my nightmares."

Travis nodded, Sal unable to see due to the darkness of the room. The tv had turned off automatically, and all the lights had already been off.

"I feel bad waking you up."

"I was already up, Travis. I'm not upset, okay?" Sal said, feeling around for a moment until he found Travis' hand, interlocking their fingers. Travis felt his heart flutter once more and he tried not to throw up in his attempt to respond.

"Okay."

A/N: writers block has been kicking my ASS!! So enjoy this chapter that's been in the works since FOREVERR!